What is a pilgrimage? It is a journey to a holy place. Native American peoples have sacred places. Hindus, Buddhists, and Shinto have shrines and holy sites. The Exodus out of Egypt was a kind of pilgrimage. Jews would make a pilgrimage once or even three times a year to the Temple in Jerusalem to worship God on his Holy Mountain.

The call to follow Jesus is a call to pilgrimage. If you've seen The Chosen, you realize how much time Jesus spent walking with his disciples following him. For Christians, the first pilgrimage destination is Palestine, the Holy Land. After that are the tombs of the Apostles in Rome and Spain, then Marian apparition sites, then any shrine or basilica.

Twenty years ago I walked the Camino for the first time. That led to many walking pilgrimages here in the states. Pilgrimages can teach us so much. Our life on earth is a pilgrimage. Sunday Mass is a pilgrimage.

The destination is important, but the journey also changes us. The Eucharist sustains us on our pilgrimage to heaven. I have three suggestions for you fellow pilgrims:

1. Keep Walking.
2. Walk With Others.
3. Trust the Journey.

May Jesus be the food for your journey. ¡Buen Camino!

(14 Aug 2026)

Going Deeper: Consider making a pilgrimage this year.

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Ordinary Time, 18th Sunday (A) Romans 8:35 is a great passage to memorize. St. Paul has experienced all kinds of anguish and distress but the love of God has conquered it. The Romans will need to believe in God's love to survive the coming persecution.

Isaiah 5 is about how the people trusted in themselves and bore rotten fruit. Isaiah 55 shows that God will restore and renew the people once they have been purified. Even our sins don't separate us from the love of God!

If we rely on ourselves and to avoid anguish, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness and all the rest... we will bear rotten fruit.

If we trust in God, then he will bring us through anguish, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness and all the rest, and we will bear great fruit... and conquer overwhelmingly!

(2 Aug 2026)

Going Deeper: Memorize all or a part of Romans 8:31b-39

31b If God is for us, who can be against us?

32 He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him?

33 Who will bring a charge against God's chosen ones? It is God who acquits us. Who will condemn? It is Christ [Jesus] who died, rather, was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.

35 What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?

36 As it is written: "For your sake we are being slain all the day; we are looked upon as sheep to be slaughtered."

37 No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us.

38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things,* nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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Ordinary Time, 16th Sunday (A) You come to Mass most Sundays, and even Holy Days of Obligation. You try not to swear or drink too much or gossip. You are learning to pray and you want to follow Jesus as faithfully as you can.

Meanwhile you know many people--friends, coworkers, your children, siblings, even a spouse--who don't seem to care. They spend every Sunday working, sleeping, or doing basically everything but coming to church. Maybe they drink, gossip, and swear as much as they like. Jesus doesn't seem to care.

If that's the situation you find yourself in, than this parable is for you. Good seed and bad weeds are growing side-by-side. The Master isn't doing anything about it. But he has a plan: "Let them grow until harvest time. Then we will save the wheat and burn up the weeds."

This parable is taken from daily life in Palestine. The people relied heavily on wheat. A clever local weed called darnel looks just like wheat. But when the heads form, you can easily tell the difference.

What is the big difference between weeds and good crops?

The wheat, or any other crop for that matter, produces something that is useful to others. They have a gift to give. The crops are givers.

The weeds have nothing to give away to anyone. They are in it for themselves. The weeds are takers.

To God, the world looks like a field full of weeds and wheat. The world is full of givers and takers. At the moment, it may appear that following Jesus and living for others makes no difference. God seems to be indifferent to this situation. But there will be a reckoning, a final judgement, a harvest. When Jesus tells us, "Do not judge," he is not saying there will be no judgement. He is saying that we are sitting in his seat. He is the judge, and he knows the truth of every human heart. We need to trust in God's final judgement.

So why is he waiting? God is waiting for the fruits to appear. He is giving us time to weed our hearts so we can start producing good fruit. It's not just those other people that need time to produce; God is waiting for us. He made us good seed. We are meant to bear good fruit. But the enemy has sown weeds in our hearts. If we don't weed our hearts, we will bear bad fruit. And we will face the fire at harvest time

(19 July 2026)

Going Deeper: Focus on cultivating your own heart and don't worry about the other people.

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